THE OTTOMAN CAGE
by
Barbara Nadel
The Ottoman Cage is Barbara Nadel’s
second Inspector Ikmen mystery. I did not read the first book in the series, Belshazzar’s Daughter. My husband is a
mystery aficionado (he did read Belshazzar’s
Daughter) who had started The Ottoman
Cage shortly before a lengthy hospital stay. Because he was so ill, I began
reading the book aloud to him – and, because I enjoyed the book so much, I
ended up reading the entire book.
Inspector
Cetin Ikmen is a homicide detective in Istanbul. Although Ikmen is a Turk, his
“oldest and best friend” is Armenian, criminal pathologist Arto Sarkissian.
In The Ottoman Cage, a young man is found
dead in part of a house that had been converted into a small set of rooms in an
upscale part of Istanbul. Although there were clear signs that the man had been
a drug user – and many believed that both the tenant and the dead man were
Armenian – there was very little evidence for the police to follow. Nadel
masterfully details how Inspector Ikmen follows the meager information known to
the police and solves the murder.
I do not
know a great deal about Turkey, but I have always been impressed by the fact
that when Ataturk founded the new Turkey, he required that it be a secular
state. So, I was surprised to read how divisive the culture seems to be: the
Muslims versus the others; the old Ottoman Turks versus the minority Armenians;
etc.
The Ottoman Cage is well written.
Although the plot is not especially complex, Nadel has interesting,
well-developed characters and includes a great deal of information and
backstory about Turkey and Istanbul.
I will
definitely be backtracking to Belshazzar’s
Daughter, and I look forward to working my way through Nadel’s extensive
Inspector Ikmen series.
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
